Episode 5: An Open Mind
by talli.b
Summary: Episode 5 of the Season 3 fan fiction "I'll Always Find You".
1. Chapter 1

DISCLAIMER: I do not own these characters or this show.

* * *

The group got back to the house and Sarah got straight to business.

"Okay, family meeting..." Sarah started, but before she could get too far, John cut her off.

"No, mom, I think you all need a break. We'll figure things out tomorrow, okay?"

"But what about Danny?"

"What about him? John Henry will keep an eye on him, and it'll all be fine."

With that, John led Cameron out of the main house to the guest house.

Derek, who had reclined himself back on the oversized chair in the living room, turned to Sarah. "The three of us can still have a family meeting," he said, almost facetiously.

Sarah gave him a condescending look before heading to the kitchen. Kyle stayed behind with Derek, sitting down on the couch. A few moments later Derek looked at Kyle, confused. "Wait. They went out to the guest house. When did I get kicked out?"

"A couple days ago my brother. John's been in the guest house since he came back here the other night." Kyle wisely refrained from saying that both John and Cameron had been in the guest house since then, not knowing if that was something Sarah wanted anyone to know or even talk about. "You're in John's room now. Sorry to disappoint you."

But Derek just shrugged it off and got up. "No big deal. Still better than any other place I've stayed since J-Day." With that, he headed into the kitchen after Sarah to try to find something to eat. Kyle didn't move to follow him though, as he had other things on his mind.

* * *

In the guest house, John was leaning over his computer, typing furiously. He was looking for any information about Mercer, anything that might lead them to him.

Cameron had been standing in the doorway of the office the entire time he'd been working on the computer. She quickly calculated how long John had been working. "John, you've been on the computer for one hour and seventeen minutes. You should take a break."

John didn't seem to hear her, or he was ignoring her. Neither possibility was acceptable to Cameron, so she walked across the room to John and started massaging his shoulders. She hoped by doing this she would alleviate some of his stress as well as get his attention. It worked in both regards. John stopped typing and leaned back letting his head rest on the back of the chair. In doing this, the top of his head was now touching Cameron's abdomen. He waited a few minutes, wanting to take as much advantage as he could of the unsolicited massage. But eventually, he pulled away, surprised that she let him, and swiveled the chair around to face her. He placed his hands on her hips and looked up at her.

"Thanks, Cameron. I definitely needed a break." With that, he let his head fall forward to slightly rest on her stomach. Cameron reached up with both of her hands and began stroking the back of his head and neck.

"You should rest. I'm sure John Henry is searching his databases for information on Mercer as well."

It occurred to John then, not for the first time, that any research on their part might be pointless now that they had access to John Henry. John Henry could do the same research more effectively and efficiently. This made John feel both relieved and useless at the same time. Though he knew that making use of the information John Henry uncovered would be left to him and the others, which made him lean more towards relieved.

"You're right." He swiveled back around and closed the laptop he'd been working on then quickly swiveled back towards Cameron again. "I don't know why I'm even bothering."

With that, he stood up, a mischievous smile on his face. "There are much better things I can think of to do with my time." John lifted his right hand up to the side of Cameron's face, rubbing circles at her temple with his thumb. He leaned in ever so slowly, then stopped mere centimeters from Cameron's lips.

John whispered, "Tag, you're it." He quickly ran past Cameron into the next room. Normally, Cameron would have been able to stop him, but he had distracted her with his proximity. She had also been trying to understand his words. She now knew what 'Tag, you're it' meant, and mere milliseconds later, she was running after him.

As she ran, she calculated the force at which she would 'tag' John. Just as he was approaching the bed, she tackled him, careful not to put very much force behind the tackle, bringing both of them down to the bed.

After composing himself, John looked at her, confused.

"Tag, you're it," was all she said.

John couldn't help but laugh at this. However, he stopped laughing when Cameron's face became intent. She wasn't looking at him anymore, she wasn't actually looking at anything in particular.

"What is it?"

She looked into his eyes, and he prepared himself for the worst.

"Kyle is coming for a visit."

* * *

"What have you found John Henry?"

John Henry turned away from the monitors to see Weaver entering the room.

"I have not been very successful in decrypting the Skynet files, but I have found some interesting intel on the hard drives from Arkarna Industries. I have cross-referenced the profiles of humans the company employs with those it stores on the hard drives. Many of them match up, but there are a few profiles of people that are not currently nor have ever been employed by the company. They do not appear to be potential employees either. "

"So why is there information on them?"

"I can't be sure, but they are definitely persons of interest. I wasn't able to decrypt most of the files, only the file names in many instances. However, I conducted my own searches. One that stands out to me is Mr. Tyson Dawes. I remember the name from Cameron's files when we were sharing a chip."

"Very good work John Henry. I will inform Mr. Connor of this new lead. Meanwhile, I think you should continue your work."

* * *

Sarah and Derek had managed to prepare themselves dinner without actually speaking a word to one another. Once they had finished, they set to work on cleaning the guns they had been using. They were in the basement, as it not only stored the guns, but also provided space and materials for cleaning.

Derek finally broke the silence.

"What did he do?"

"What?" Sarah was genuinely confused given the vagueness of his question.

"The other Derek. What did he do?"

"What do you mean?"

"I mean, you look at me like you don't trust me."

Not one to beat around the bush, Sarah replied, "You're right. I didn't trust him. And I guess because of that I don't trust you."

"Why didn't you trust him?"

"I did for awhile. As much as I can trust someone who isn't John or myself or..." she trailed off, and they both knew who she meant.

But she finished the sentence, not with the name that had first come to mind, but with the name of someone else she trusted. "...Charley."

"Charley?"

"Yeah. A few years ago..." she stopped and corrected herself, "...or I guess about 10 years ago, we were supposed to get married. I thought that we had stopped Skynet. I was still a fugitive, though, so John and I left. I couldn't drag Charley into this life. But eventually he was dragged back in, and his wife died because of it. Still, he's the only other person I ever trusted with my life. And with John's."

"What happened to him?"

"Kaleba killed him. He died protecting John." The despair in Sarah's voice was not lost on either of them. After a long period of silence, Sarah continued.

"You lied to us. A girl died, John was put in danger, and was greatly hurt by your deception."

Before Derek could ask her to go into detail, she began the story.

"There was a woman. Jesse. I don't know if you know her in your time line, but in his time line, he was in love with Jesse. Jesse traveled back here without John's knowledge. She brought a girl with her. Riley. Her goal was for John to fall in love with Riley. She came at just the right time. John was confused and in denial about a lot of things. Riley allowed him to be normal. Jesse's goal was to keep John away from Cameron. Derek found her, and she explained what she was doing here. She failed to mention Riley. Since he agreed with her overall goal, he didn't interfere.

"Things got bad quickly. Jesse posed as a school counselor and told Riley's foster parents about things Riley had supposedly revealed to her. Things that could put us in danger. So I met with her, and she confirmed some of my suspicions. Riley insisted that she hadn't told anyone. Regardless, she'd become a threat. Cameron should have killed her. I'm still not sure why she didn't. But John was smarter than any of us had realized. He had known for a while that Riley was from the future. He knew about Jesse, and Derek. He wasn't sure what the end game was, but he knew that he was being lied to. So when Riley turned up dead, he was the only one that wasn't sure Cameron had done it.

"It turns out, Jesse's plan all along had been for Riley to die. She wanted Cameron to kill her so that John would truly never trust her again. It wasn't enough for John to fall in love with Riley, she had to make sure that John would never fall in love with Cameron."

Derek interrupted her now. "Wait? Fall in love with Cameron?"

It killed Sarah to actually say it out loud, especially considering her recent conversations with her son. "In the future, there are rumors that John and Cameron are involved. I can't know for sure, Jesse didn't know for sure, but she did know that Cameron had a huge influence on John in her time line."

With this new information, Derek now viewed John and Cameron's relationship in a completely different way. He knew they were close, but he figured that was only because she protected him. But with this new knowledge, his stomach churned, considering all the possibilities. Thankfully, Sarah distracted him by continuing her story.

"But Cameron didn't kill her. And when Riley figured out what was going on, that Jesse had been posing as a school counselor; stirring up trouble, that she meant to give Cameron a reason to kill her, she confronted Jesse. Riley fought back, but Jesse was the more skilled fighter. Jesse dumped her in the river. When we found out about a Jane Doe who matched Riley's description, both Derek and I assumed it had been Cameron. John wasn't so sure. He went to the morgue and examined the body. He found defensive wounds all over. It was then that he was sure it hadn't been Cameron. If Cameron would have killed Riley, Riley wouldn't have had time to fight back.

"It was then that he confronted Derek about Jesse. And then he confronted Jesse about Riley. He let her go."

"So she's still out there somewhere?"

"I don't know. After John let Jesse go, Derek spoke with her. I'm not sure what happened between them. I don't know if we ever will now."

"How did he die?"

"A terminator. Execution style."

"Oh."

"So I didn't trust him. He lied and we were all put in danger. But even though I didn't trust him, he died for John, and because of that, he'll always have my respect and gratitude."

Sarah was now done cleaning her weapons. She put them away, keeping the Glock to take with her, and made her way up the stairs to her room.

Derek, though finished as well, sat in the basement alone for a long while processing everything he'd just been told.

* * *

Cameron quickly got up off the bed and walked across the room to the door. She opened the door just as Kyle was approaching. He was a bit surprised, but was able to keep his cool.

"You wish to speak with John." It wasn't a question. Cameron calculated that there was a 96.4 percent probability that Kyle was there to speak with John. Additionally, she calculated that there was an 84.9 percent probability that he wished to speak with John alone.

"I will patrol. You two will be able to speak alone." Without another word, Cameron looked back to John to ensure that he was in agreement, to which he gave a slight nod, and she stepped around Kyle to begin her patrol.

It still threw John off how Cameron could seem almost human when they were alone, and then be so machine-like around other people. He understood why she did this, and he agreed with it, but it was still unsettling.

Before Kyle had arrived, John had repositioned himself to sit on the edge of the bed. He'd done his best to smooth out the bedding, as it had been mussed up from their game of tag, but Kyle could still tell that something had happened. He hoped that John had just been napping, but he knew that that was unlikely at this hour.

John started to stand up, but Kyle motioned for him to stay. He pulled the large ottoman over towards the bed so he could sit a few feet away, facing John.

They sat there awkwardly for a few long moments. John waiting for Kyle to speak, and Kyle not sure where to start.

"So we haven't really had any time to talk since we got here."

John knew this was true. In part, he'd actually been avoiding Kyle. It was too confusing for him, and he had enough confusing in his life right now. Kyle was technically his father, but he was also very different from the Kyle that Sarah had known. So he wasn't sure what his relationship with this Kyle was or could be.

"Yeah, I know. There's been a lot going on." It didn't escape John that his response was fairly lame.

"Yeah, but I figure this is the most downtime we're likely to get for awhile, so we might as well talk about some things."

"Like what?"

"Like your father. Honestly, this time travel stuff is really confusing. Sarah says that I'm different from the Kyle that she knew. And I know you never knew him, but I'm still not sure what that means about the two of us. So let me ask you, what do you want?"

The question surprised John. He didn't know what he wanted. He spent so much time avoiding the subject completely, trying to lose himself in stopping Skynet or focusing on Cameron, that he hadn't thought about it at all. So he answered with the first thing that came to mind.

"I think I'd like to get to know you. Even if you're not the same man that my mother knew, you are still biologically my father and despite the small differences, you are still essentially the man that my mother knew, you're still essentially my father."

John looked up awkwardly, not sure what Kyle's response would be.

"Well, I've been thinking about it a lot, and it's going to take a while to get used to the idea of having a son that is only eight years younger than me."

"Well, at least I'm younger. I was supposed to meet you when I was at least ten years older than you. Originally, I think it was more like twenty years older, but since we jumped from 1999 to 2007, things are different now. I'll still be meeting the younger version of you, though."

"I was wrong. I thought this time travel stuff couldn't get more confusing, but you just made it more confusing."

"Yeah, I just try not to think about it." There was another awkward pause before Kyle continued what he had been saying before.

"But while I get used to it, I'd still like to spend some time with you. Alone, but I'd also like to get to know Cameron."

This got John's attention. Had his father picked up on their closeness? Of course they spent a lot of time together, but did Kyle notice the emotional side of it as well?

Seeing John's confused expression, he explained.

"She means a lot to you, doesn't she?" Before John could answer, Kyle continued, "Because if so, she's someone I think I should know."

John was stunned. He had expected Kyle and Derek to be overly hostile about working with machines, which they hadn't been, and now this. Kyle was basically referring to Cameron as if she were human.

"It doesn't bother you that she's a cyborg?"

Kyle thought on it for a moment before answering. "I'm not thrilled. Pretty much my whole life I've been running away from or fighting machines. But I guess it makes sense to me. For the most part, machines do what they're told to do. A select few achieve self awareness, like Skynet. I believe Cameron is one such machine. For these reasons, I'm led to believe that not only can we and should we utilize machines, more specifically terminators, but that Cameron has earned the respect that you've given to her. And if you respect her, then there should be no reason why I can't."

Kyle's candidness as well as his open mindedness was refreshing to John. He hoped that Kyle really believed everything he was saying, that he wasn't just trying to get on John's good side. John decided to give Kyle the benefit of the doubt. He smiled saying, "Thank you. That means more to me than you can ever imagine." John checked the clock. Cameron had been gone for almost thirty minutes.

"Cameron will be back soon. Can we continue this tomorrow?"

"Of course. It's late. We'll talk later."

John got up and walked Kyle to the door. Before Kyle left, John said, "I'm glad we talked and got this out in the open."

"Yeah, me too. That elephant was getting cumbersome."

* * *

The next morning, Cameron lay next to John in bed, studying him, like she had done much of the night. She noticed how peaceful he looked, and wondered what he was dreaming about, or if he was dreaming at all. She lifted her hand up to caress the side of his face. Then she leaned forward slightly and kissed his forehead. A few minutes later, he began to stir. Cameron calculated how long he had been asleep.

"You've been sleeping for eight hours and thirty four minutes. A teenage male requires at least eight hours and fifteen minutes of sleep each night. You rarely achieve this minimum, so I am glad that you slept so long last night."

"You mean you're glad that I'm unconscious for so long? You don't miss me even a little bit?" To John, it was obvious he was teasing. To Cameron, however...

"I miss you when I patrol during the night. But when I'm here, you are here with me, so there is no need to miss you. If you mean do I miss your personality and conversation, then of course. But I want you to be healthy and well-rested, which takes precedence over my wants."

John stopped her before she could go any further. "Relax, Cameron, I was kidding."

"Oh." Her face showed relief. "When we will have sexual intercourse?"

"What?" John asked, speechless. He didn't think he'd ever get used to Cameron's bluntness.

"We spoke about it before, and you said that we should wait, but then you seemed to change your mind. However, Sarah and Derek arrived home and interrupted us. I've been patient, but from everything I've read and seen, teenage males are usually extremely interested in sexual exploits. Are you not attracted to me? Is it because I'm a cybernetic organism?"

"No, Cameron, of course not. You're beautiful, you're...perfect. It's just..." John searched for a reason. Honestly, he wasn't sure. He'd been so stressed out about his mom knowing that sex hadn't exactly been at the forefront of his mind.

"There's been a lot going on, you know? And, well, it would be my first time, you know... I don't want to rush anything. I don't want to worry about my mom coming for a surprise visit or about if Danny Dyson is safe. I guess I've just been waiting for the right moment."

"But we had a whole day alone."

She was right. He knew she was right. He wasn't entirely sure why he hadn't taken advantage of their time alone, but he tried to explain anyway. "I think...I think I'm still figuring things out. I told you before that we'll figure this out together, and I promise we will. As much as I'd love to just lose myself in you, I have to be more careful than that. I learned that lesson the hard way."

Cameron knew he meant Riley. "Wait. You said that you had never had sexual intercourse before. So that means that you never..." She trailed off, not wanting to upset John.

John looked down for a moment before looking back at Cameron. "No. We never did. I can't be sure, but I think that even though I was in denial about my feelings for you, deep down I still felt like that would be a betrayal. Too big a betrayal for me to live with. I wanted you to be my first. My only."

John's words elicited a warmth in Cameron's abdomen, one she'd gotten used to over the past few weeks. This time, however, the feeling was even more overwhelming. Without even thinking about it, Cameron leaned forward and began kissing John. He was pleasantly surprised, and probably let it go on for much longer than he should have, but somehow he was able to come to his senses and pull away from Cameron.

"My mom's going to be wondering where we are, let's save this for later okay?"

Cameron obviously was not satisfied with his response, but the logical side of her could not find fault in his reasoning. She grudgingly got out of bed, with John getting up behind her. As soon as John's feet hit the floor, he pulled at her arm to get her to turn around towards him. When she did, he placed a soft kiss on her lips. When he pulled away, he stayed close to her face, looking straight into her eyes.

"I promise."

* * *

Sarah stood staring out the back window. She could see into the guest house from where she stood. She hadn't meant to look, but out of habit, she had wanted to make sure that everything looked alright. That was when she caught sight of her son and his terminator protector laying in bed together. She was relieved that they were both still clothed. She had wanted to look away, but before she could she noticed something strange.

Though John was still asleep, Cameron lay there staring at him, caressing his face. Then she placed a kiss on his forehead.

_What is she doing? Who is she doing that for? _Sarah had always explained to herself that Cameron's human behavior was purely for those around her, like she was trying to prove something. This was her last hope to explain how her son could fall for Cameron. She was sure that Cameron was manipulating him, but this unobserved (at least to Cameron's knowledge) behavior disproved her theory. Sarah hung on to the hope that either Cameron knew that Sarah was watching or that John was waking up and that therefore Cameron was doing it for his benefit.

So Sarah waited a few more minutes, but John didn't stir. Finally, she gave up and turned away. When she turned around, she was surprised to see Kyle standing there. It was rare that someone could sneak up on her, but she attributed this instance to be a result of her immense distraction at the moment.

"You know, you might think about having an open mind."

Sarah glared at him.

"Or not."

* * *

A man stands in front of a line of four other men. They are in a large office, presumably the man's. He is issuing orders to them. A monitor behind him displays Tyson Dawes' info sheet and photo.

"The target is Tyson Dawes. We want him alive. However, if the choice is between him getting away and him being dead, you have permission to kill him. This a high priority target, men. Get to work."

The men file out of the office, leaving the leader to himself. He sits down at his desk and continues his search for George McCarthy.

* * *

In Montebello, California, in a single story contemporary home, Tyson Dawes gets ready for work. He gets dressed, prepares breakfast for himself, loads the dishwasher, and fills his dog's food and water bowl. He whistles for his dog to come eat.

"Wizard, come here boy."

It's then that Wizard begins barking at something outside.


	2. Chapter 2

A/N: Kind of a short chapter. This is more of a set up for the upcoming chapters than anything. Hope you enjoy!

DISCLAIMER: I do not own these characters or the show.

* * *

Dawes approached the window near Wizard. The dog was still barking at something outside. Dawes looked out the window, but didn't see anything. He shrugged and starting walking back to the kitchen. He figured Wizard had just seen another animal and gotten worked up.

Then the doorbell rang. Dawes changed course to go and answer the door. When he opened it, there was a young man, maybe in his early 20s, standing there holding a package under his left arm. He was also holding a clipboard in his left hand.

"Can I help you?"

"Tyson Dawes?"

"Yes?"

The young man reached into his jacket's left inner pocket.

* * *

While John was showering and getting ready for the day, Cameron decided to check the perimeter. She circled the house, taking great care to note that all exits were secure. She examined the people and vehicles in the surrounding area. There weren't many, seeing as each house in the area was fairly secluded from the others. On her way back to the guest house, she saw Sarah approaching her.

Cameron continued walking towards Sarah. She gauged Sarah's mood as best as she could. Cameron found it difficult, however. There was a definite determination in Sarah's walk, some anger, but that was common. There was something else present in Sarah's demeanor, but Cameron couldn't quite place it.

Once Sarah was within a few feet of Cameron, she stopped walking. The two women stood there staring at each other. Finally, Sarah broke the silence.

"I told Derek about everything that happened with Jesse."

Cameron just stared silently back. She couldn't understand why Sarah had taken time to tell her this.

"I just thought you should know."

With that, she turned around and walked back towards the house. Sarah silently chastised herself for chickening out. She'd meant to confront Cameron about John. Maybe even to ask her about what she'd seen that morning. However, it seemed almost too confrontational. She suspected that the only chance, no matter how small that chance may be, to get any information from Cameron would be to talk to her about it as sanely as possible. After her time in Pescadaro, she knew what sanity looked like, or more so what it didn't look like, and she was smart enough to know that she was not in a sane place at the moment.

She promised herself that she'd speak with Cameron soon.

* * *

John got out of the shower and grabbed for his towel. However, it wasn't there. Almost immediately, it appeared in front of his face. He turned to see where it had come from, and was surprised to see Catherine Weaver holding the towel out to him. He jumped, not expecting to see the T-1001 standing there. He wasn't sure if he was getting used to machines showing up everywhere, or if he was just getting numb to all surprises, but he instantly adjusted to the situation and grabbed the towel. He wrapped it around his waist.

"This better be important."

"Of course it is important. It is always important."

John walked out of the bathroom to the kitchen and grabbed himself a glass.

"John Henry found a name in the Arkarna Industries files."

As John retrieved the orange juice from the fridge he said, "Really? Who is it?"

"Tyson Dawes. There is no record of any connection to the company, other than his presence in their encrypted database. I believe it would be beneficial for you to find Mr. Dawes immediately and ascertain his importance to Arkarna Industries."

John drank the last bit of orange juice in his glass before returning the container back to the fridge.

"Where is he?"

"He currently resides in Montebello, CA." She handed him a piece of paper. "Here is his home address, as well as his work address. Bring him to Zeira Corp immediately. He will be safe there."

Before John could respond she was gone, melted away into a puddle of silvery liquid.

* * *

Carly had worked all through the night. She was so close to a breakthrough, she could practically taste it. _Speaking of tasting, I haven't eaten in awhile._

She pushed the thought of food to the back of her mind. Food could wait. Her boss couldn't. Or at least, she got the feeling that her Mrs. Weaver was not one to wait. Carly couldn't understand how she ran a multi-million dollar company, raised her daughter, and personally oversaw so many different projects, yet never appeared to be even the slightest bit weathered by any of it.

Carly entered the last few variables into the computer and ran the simulation. Her heart raced, hoping that she was right this time. If she was, all that was left was to send the plans over to the Manufacturing Department. As the simulation ran, she was unaware of another presence in the lab.

"Have you been here all night?"

She jumped, immediately recognizing the voice, but did not turn away from the monitor.

"Mrs. Weaver assigned this to me, and I got kind of obsessed. Whoever was working on this before got pretty close. They had a few things completely wrong, though."

"Like what?"

"Some of the ratios. Also, they seemed to be designing the unit to last only a decade at most. And that was only with continuous maintenance, which wasn't within the project parameters. The unit is supposed to last at least twice as long, with little to no maintenance and the ability to easily replace the unit once it has degraded."

"And you figured out how to do that?"

"If I'm correct, the unit will run for over 100 years, and will only need to receive maintenance once a year. If this maintenance is kept up, there should be no problems."

The computer in front of her beeped, and the results of the simulation were displayed. Carly turned around, jumping for joy, and hugged her associate.

"It worked!"

Matt Murch stood there hugging her back, trying desperately not to hyperventilate.

* * *

After getting dressed, John headed to the main house. Cameron was just returning from her odd encounter with Sarah and joined up with John.

When they entered, John was hit with the familiar smell of...what else?...pancakes. He sat down at the table where Kyle and Derek already were, as Sarah joined them. John didn't touch his pancakes though.

"We've got a new lead. We'll eat, then we'll load up."

"What's the lead?" Kyle asked.

"A guy, Tyson Dawes. We don't know why he's important, but we know he's on a list. He's in Montebello. We'll take separate cars, just in case we need to split up."

Without waiting for a response, John dug into his pancakes and the rest followed suit.

* * *

For some reason, John had insisted that Sarah and Derek take one of the vehicles while Kyle went with John and Cameron. Sarah didn't object. She'd been fighting with her son too much lately. She figured he didn't want to be around her at the moment. That still didn't explain his insistence that Kyle go with him and Cameron. But she was just glad that John wouldn't be alone with Cameron.

She looked to her right. Derek had not said a word to her since their talk the night before. She found herself wondering what he thought about everything she had told him. But neither one of them had ever been one for sharing feelings, so it wasn't hard for her to keep her mouth shut.

It occurred to her that last night's conversation had been the longest conversation she'd ever had with Derek. She'd never said much to either Derek. The other Derek had spent so much time on his own. She had assumed that he had been chasing leads, but after learning of his relationship with Jesse, she wasn't so sure anymore.

So much potential knowledge had died with Derek that day. So much about Jesse and any leads he had followed up on. She hoped that it wouldn't come back to bit them in the ass.

"You hate her, don't you?"

Sarah, caught off guard by Derek's abrupt question, just gave him a confused look.

"Cameron. You hate her."

Sarah didn't want to answer the question, so she deflected.

"Don't you?"

"I don't know. I should, she's metal, but I've never seen anything like her."

Sarah, disgusted, cut him off, "So what? Just because she looks like a pretty girl, you can't hate her?"

"No, I'm not talking about the way she looks. Every metal I've ever seen, ever come up against, has tried to kill me. They've never hesitated. But then I meet Cameron. And not only does she not try to kill me, she's trying to help. I see the way she looks at John..."

"She's an infiltrator. She's trained to manipulate people, to seem human."

"Either way, it's interesting. If it makes you feel any better, I still don't trust her."

"Good. You should never trust her. You can't trust anybody."

* * *

"You'll need to sign for it." The delivery man pulled a pen out of his pocket and handed it to him, along with the clipboard. Dawes found his name on the list and signed next to it.

He noticed that the man wasn't from any of the big companies like UPS or FedEx. He wore jeans and a button up shirt underneath his sports jacket.

"If you don't mind my asking, what delivery service are you with?"

"I'm an independent contractor. People use my services when the packages they are sending are too fragile or important to trust with the bigger companies."

Dawes handed the clipboard back to the man.

"Mr. Dawes, I'll need to see your ID before I give you the package."

"Oh, right." Dawes reached into his back pocket for his wallet and pulled out his driver's license, showing it to the delivery man.

The man studied the ID before handing it back to Dawes, satisfied that it was him. Then he handed the package over.

"Have a good day, Mr. Dawes."

"You too." He looked at the package. "Hey! There's no sender's address."

"Not my problem. That's something else about my service, many anonymous senders prefer to send packages via private delivery services."

The man walked away as Dawes closed the door and headed to the kitchen. He grabbed a knife, and began to cut the tape that held the box closed.


	3. Chapter 3

A/N: Okay, this chapter is a short one as well. I already knew that this episode would be shorter than most, for flow reasons. However, I think that the pay off of this episode and the next will make up for it. Also, I'm hoping to get the next and final chapter (which should be the normal length, if not longer) out pretty soon.

DISCLAIMER: I do not own these characters or the show.

* * *

Tyson Dawes opened the box that had just been delivered. There was a dark mass amidst the bubble wrap. He pulled the bubble wrap aside and was astonished to find a gun. He'd never been one for any sort of weapon, but he knew enough to know that this was a handgun.

_Who would send me a gun? _Dawes wondered.

Just as he was about to put the gun down, there was a loud crash in the other room. Dawes hesitantly peeked around the corner to find four men entering his house, stepping on the front door that had been broken down. Before they could see him, he jerked his head back around the corner. He looked down at the gun, thankful for the miracle, but hoping that he could get out of the house without having to use it. He didn't relish the thought of getting that close to death. Besides, all four men were armed.

He heard one of the men barking orders. "Check the upstairs and the back. I'll check down here." Dawes heard two sets of footsteps pounding up the stairs, and he was pretty sure that the other man went back out the front door to get to the backyard. _They're sure not being covert._

Dawes walked as quietly as he could, trying to make it to the garage. He figured his best chance was to get to his car.

Wizard had been barking like crazy, but then Dawes heard the unmistakeable sound of Wizard being quieted...for good.

Dawes finally made it to the door that led to the garage, and just as he was turning the handle, there was a loud shot coming from behind him. He winced at the pain now possessing his right thigh. He turned around and saw the man whom he assumed was the boss stalking towards him. Dawes remembered the gun in his hand and aimed it at the man. He pulled the trigger. The recoil further aggravated his current state and he fell back on the ground. He'd hit the man, but he was still approaching. He realigned his aim, closed his eyes and continued to squeeze the trigger, again, and again, and again.

* * *

It was silent in the car. Cameron was sitting up straight, her hands in her lap, scanning their surroundings for threats from cars, pedestrians, anything. From his place in the driver's seat, John let out a chuckle, breaking the silence.

Cameron looked at him, tilting her head. From the backseat, Kyle asked, "What?"

"It's nothing, just...Cameron, you can be yourself around Kyle."

"I am being myself."

"Yeah, I know, but there are other aspects of yourself. You could make conversation."

Cameron thought back to her experiences in making conversation. It had been awhile since she had made conversation with anyone other than John. No one had been interested. Not since Eric stopped working at the library.

"That was effective."

"What was effective?"

"When you touched my lips last night."

"What!"

Cameron only responded with a mischievous smile.

"This is what you call making conversation?"

"You don't remember, John?"

John thought back, trying to figure out what she was referencing. Realization dawned on him.

"Vick's chip. He touched her lips. You said it was effective. You said you were just making conversation."

There was a chuckle coming from the back seat of the truck. John chanced a glance back at Kyle.

"Is that what you kids call it these days?"

Cameron allowed herself to laugh with Kyle.

John spoke up, "Okay, okay, enough making fun of John. I don't think it's entirely fair. Kyle, I don't know enough about you to make fun of you, and Cameron, you're just too perfect to make fun of." John knew there were things that he could pick on and joke around about with Cameron, she had so many quirks, but he didn't want her to feel self-conscious about any of it.

"I'm not perfect. I'm a freak."

Worried, John glanced over at Cameron. He had nothing to worry about, though. There was humor in her eyes. She obviously was making fun of herself.

"Maybe that's true, but you're my freak." John reached out and placed his hand over Cameron's.

Kyle watched the exchange between the two, and he was glad to finally be able to begin to understand this strange connection the two had. Admittedly, he could sympathize with Sarah's objections, but Cameron seemed to make John happy. He began to suspect that Sarah's disapproval stemmed more so from the thought of losing her son than the thought of her son being involved with a machine.

Which begged the question of what the ethical ramifications of a relationship with a machine were. It was an unprecedented situation. Cameron had many qualities similar to that of a person, as well as some, if not complete, free will. As far as Kyle knew, she wasn't being forced into anything. He couldn't tell for sure, but it seemed like Cameron enjoyed spending time with John.

Any way Kyle looked at it, with the current information, it seemed there was no problem with John and Cameron's relationship. He decided that when he got a chance, he'd try to talk to Sarah about it again. Hopefully he could convince her to at least try to understand where John was coming from.

"We're almost there," Cameron stated. She reached down for her weapons. She was prepared for whatever would be awaiting them.

* * *

"Mr. Akagi, you might be interested to know that our newest employee, Ms. Carly Stoker, has solved one of the problems that you've been having with Project Ark."

Xander Akagi looked up at Catherine Weaver. "You asked her to work on the problem?"

"You shouldn't feel threatened, Mr. Akagi. I still have complete confidence in your ability to lead and complete Project Ark, but I thought that Ms. Stoker could help with one of the smaller components of the project."

"Oh, okay. Well, that's great."

"The completed specifications have been sent to your computer and the units are being manufactured as we speak. Where are we with the overall project?"

"With Ms. Stoker's contribution, I believe that the project will be completed by the end of the week. It all depends on how fast the builders can work."

"Let me worry about that Mr. Akagi. Just make sure that everything is up to your specifications. We can't afford to be off by any measure."

"I understand. Thank you ma'am."

Weaver surveyed the lab. "Where is your father?"

"Oh, he's just out getting lunch. He'll be back soon."

"Please tell him to come see me as soon as he is able to."

"I will."

Xander could never understand why, but as she walked away he felt a familiar shiver of fear.

* * *

John pulled up to Tyson Dawes' house first. He looked in his side view mirror, but couldn't see his mother yet. He saw the destroyed front door, and knew that they had to check it out. He didn't hesitate.

"Cameron, you take the front, Kyle and I will take the back. We want Dawes alive. Feel free to disable any other threats."

Without a sound, they each got out of the truck. Cameron headed straight for the front door, while John and Kyle went around the side of the house to the backyard. From inside the house, they heard the sound of a gun shot. There was a pause, and then a maelstrom of gunshots followed. Silently, Kyle insisted on going first, just in case. John crept slowly behind him as they approached the corner of the house, hoping that Cameron was okay. He knew there was nothing he could do right now, whoever who had fired the shots could be exiting out the back, so he stuck to the plan.

As they rounded the corner, John heard another gunshot, this time from Kyle's 9mm. John saw Kyle relax a bit. He followed Kyle and immediately saw the body of the man Kyle had shot execution style. It reminded John of how Derek had died, and he forced down the feelings that the image brought up. Kyle walked right past the dead man to the back door. Now they heard another gunshot, and John was sure that it was from Cameron's shotgun that she had loaded with thermite rounds. He breathed a sigh of relief before hearing the sounds of what he believed to be two terminators engaged in hand-to-hand combat. He rushed past Kyle as he heard more and more gunshots being fired from all different places. He hoped that at least some of them were his mother and Derek and that they had finally arrived.

As John entered the house, he saw Dawes laying on the floor with his arms propping him up, fear plastering his face. He followed Dawes' gaze to Cameron and a very large terminator fighting. John vaguely registered that Kyle had run past in an effort to ensure that the firefight in the other room was under control. John eyed the shotgun that laid on the floor, but he knew that all of the shells were in Cameron's possession.

"Cameron! Shells!" he yelled, hoping that he hadn't just put in her in danger. Relief hit him as he watched Cameron slam the terminator down on the ground, taking a moment to grab the shells from her jacket pocket and throw them in John's direction. He reached for the shotgun, grabbing two of the shells from the ground. He loaded one of the shells and waited for his shot. It was difficult, as the two terminators were moving so much and he didn't want to hit Cameron. As soon as he saw his chance, though, he took the shot, right in the head. The terminator flinched for a moment before falling to the ground. It wasn't completely disabled yet, but it wasn't really a threat anymore either.

Cameron retrieved her pocket knife and got to work on pulling the terminator's chip. John turned to Dawes, who seemed to be in a state of shock. He offered his hand to the man. After a few moments, Dawes seemed to register John's presence and reached out his own hand as John helped him up.

John hadn't noticed, but at some point the firefight from the other room had ceased. Kyle yelled out, "John!" And John ran quickly past Cameron and the now disabled terminator. "Cameron, make sure Dawes doesn't run off."

As John entered the room, the sight he saw was one he had never wanted to see again. His mother was laying in Kyle's arms, a gunshot wound in her gut.


	4. Chapter 4

A/N: I know, I know, I promised long, but I realized I was getting the next chapter mixed up with the next episode. Anyway, it is longer than the last two and honestly I had to really think about what to add just to make it this long. And if I had tried to force more, then I most likely would've eventually given up and you guys would've just had to wait that much longer for a new chapter. So I hope you enjoy...

DISCLAIMER: I do not own these characters or the show.

* * *

John rushed to his mother's side, relieved that Kyle had placed pressure on the wound to stop any major blood loss. However, the blood was seeping through his fingers and John knew they'd have to do better than that. Sarah had already lost consciousness. They had to get the bullet out, and they needed to wrap the wound. They had first aid supplies in both vehicles, but he knew with all the gunfire, that the cops would have been called. They needed to leave.

"Cameron!" John called out, trying to keep his voice from shaking.

Cameron entered the room, pulling Dawes along with her. John could guess that she knew what to expect, but whether or not she did, her face didn't show any hint of concern. John guessed that she was probably trying to be brave for him. Even if she wasn't concerned for Sarah, he knew she was at least concerned for him.

"We have to get her into the SUV. You and Kyle take her, I'll take care of Dawes."

"Wait, John."

John looked towards Kyle, wondering what the problem was.

"They took Derek. They have Derek."

* * *

"Mr. Akagi, please sit down."

The elder Akagi had come to Weaver's office as she had requested. He sat down in one of the chairs on the other side of the desk from her.

"My son said you wanted to see me."

"Yes. I spoke to him earlier, and he said that Project Ark will be finished by the end of the week. In light of this, I would like to talk about yours and your son's future with this company."

This worried Alex. He feared that now that they had completed Weaver's project, that they would be let go and not be allowed to continue their personal project. Weaver noticed his concern.

"Don't worry, Mr. Akagi. I keep my promises. However, your son will not be completing his microchip."

"What? You just said you keep your promises."

"I do. Your son's completion of his microchip is unnecessary. Project Babylon has already surpassed that of a simple microchip. I understand that your son is interested in artificial intelligence, and I think he will be excited to become a part of Project Babylon. Once Project Ark is completed, he will join Project Babylon. That is, if the two of you are interested."

"What exactly is Project Babylon?"

"I'm afraid I can't answer that right now. I just wanted to make you aware of the situation and give you some time to think about it. At the end of the week, I will present the idea to both you and your son and you will then be able to decide if you'd like to join the project. I'd appreciate it if you didn't mention this to your son. I wouldn't want him to lose focus at this pivotal juncture. Would you?"

"No, I wouldn't."

"I'm glad we understand each other, Mr. Akagi.

* * *

John looked around the room and realized that Kyle was right. Derek wasn't there. Neither were the other men.

"Why would they take him?"

"I don't know, maybe as a bargaining chip?"

John knew that now wasn't the time to worry about Derek. He had to get his mother to safety.

"We'll figure it out later. For now, all we can do is get out of here. The cops will be here soon."

Cameron waited for John to grab Dawes and pull him out the front before she moved to help Kyle carry Sarah. To Kyle's surprise, she picked Sarah up herself, one arm situated just under Sarah's shoulder blade, the other at Sarah's coccyx.

"Hold her legs up with one hand so she doesn't fall, and use your other hand to apply pressure to the wound," Cameron instructed.

Kyle could see now what Cameron's intentions were. She was holding Sarah in such a way that prevented any unnecessary blood loss. If they had carried her normally, Sarah's abdomen would have bent, forcing that much more blood out.

Outside, John was forcing Dawes to come with him to the SUV.

"What do you want from me? Who are you?" Dawes managed to pull away from John's grasp. John immediately drew his Glock and pressed it against Dawes' chest.

"That doesn't matter right now. What matters is that they were going to kill you, and we stopped them from doing that. You can't stay here. They'll send others to finish the job."

"What did I do? Why do they want me dead?" John grabbed Dawes' arm again, leading him to the SUV.

"It's not something you did, it's something you will do."

John opened the back door of the SUV and gently pushed Dawes into the rear bench of the vehicle. He looked back and saw that Cameron and Kyle were approaching, carrying Sarah. John reached under the middle seat for the customized first aid kit that Cameron had put together.

"Put her in the middle seat. Cameron, I need you to get the metal and put it in the back. Kyle, I want you to sit here with Dawes, make sure he doesn't try to make a run for it." The two obliged and John climbed into the back with his mom, applying gauze from the kit to her wound. He knew that was all he could do for her until Cameron returned.

When Cameron had secured the terminator in the trunk, John reluctantly got out to allow Cameron access to Sarah.

"Cameron, I need you to take care of her. I'll drive. We'll have to come back for the truck later if we can."

John closed the back door then crossed to the other side of the SUV and got in the driver's seat. He pulled away just in time. As he turned the corner, he saw the lights of cop cars and ambulances pulling onto the street in his rear view mirror.

* * *

Savannah sat across the table from John Henry while she colored in Cinderella's dress. Normally, she might have colored the dress pink or green, but John Henry had been teaching her about the importance of color and the importance of choosing the correct color. She remembered from the movie that Cinderella's dress that she went to the ball in was blue, so she had chosen a light shade of the color.

Though John Henry was now able to leave his basement room, he still thought of it as his home base. He spent much of his time these days in the room, and Savannah often joined him. Weaver had pulled Savannah out of school, determining that it wasn't safe for her anymore and that she and John Henry could teach her more effectively than her teachers at school. So in addition to coloring, John Henry would also print out math worksheets for Savannah and assign her books to read so that they could discuss them. That part of the day was over though, and now it was time for coloring.

"That's very good Savannah," John Henry remarked.

Savannah grinned widely. "Thank you John Henry. I'm coloring her dress blue."

"Yes, I can see that." A picture of Disney's _Cinderella_ appeared on the screen behind him. "It is very close to that of the color present in the 1950 Oscar Award nominated animated feature _Cinderella_."

Beaming with pride, she simply said, "I know."

Now Savannah looked across to John Henry's page. He was coloring a picture of Snow White. She noticed that in addition to coloring Snow White's dress purple, the trees and bushes in the picture various bright colors such as red, pink, and of course blue.

"That's not what Snow White's dress looks like. And trees are supposed to be green."

He replied with his signature smile, "I know. I just thought I'd change the rules."

* * *

John took out his phone and called Weaver. He knew that if anyone was prepared for something like this, it would be Weaver. She answered the phone in her usual monotonous tone.

"Catherine Weaver."

"My mom was shot. She needs medical care. Cameron's doing what she can, but I'm not sure if it's enough."

"Did you find Mr. Dawes?"

"What? Yes, we did. He's with us. What does that matter?"

Weaver ignored his question. "Bring them to Zeira Corp. We have medical facilities. My employees are trained not to ask questions."

John tried not to think about why she would need medical facilities and why she would need to train them not to ask questions.

"Okay, we'll be there in five minutes."

"Park around the back. I'll send someone out with a gurney."

"Thank you."

Weaver didn't respond before hanging up. John put his phone back in his pocket and glanced in the rear view mirror.

"How's she doing Cameron?"

"I was not able to extract the bullet. It's too dangerous to do so. It is good that we are taking her to a medical facility. Catherine will have exceptional medical professionals, I'm sure of it. In the meantime, I've applied the gauze and it seems to be helping."

"Good, good..." John tried to pull himself together. He tried not to think too hard about the situation at hand. His mother was shot, his uncle had been kidnapped. The stakes were high now. They hadn't been this high in awhile. Sure, people in his life had died, but that had been sudden. There wasn't much he could do about it. Now he had to actually be that leader that he had become.

From the seat behind him, Dawes took advantage of the silence. "Where are we going? What's going to happen to me?"

John ignored him, not trusting himself to open his mouth, for fear that he'd show weakness. Dawes took the hint and remained silent from then on.

A few minutes later, they arrived at Zeira Corp. John drove around the back like Weaver had instructed. A doctor and nurse were waiting at the back door with a gurney. Not wanting to expose herself as something other than human, Cameron resisted the urge to carry Sarah out by herself. Instead, Kyle helped the doctor transfer Sarah over to the gurney. Cameron grabbed ahold of Dawes' arm, trying to make it seem natural. They didn't need to arise any unnecessary suspicion. It was already suspicious enough showing up with the victim of a gunshot wound.

They all followed the doctor and nurse into the building where Weaver was waiting for them.

"All of you need to come with me." At John's reluctance, Weaver assured him, "She is in good hands. There's nothing you can do for her right now."

John forced himself to follow Weaver. Cameron was walking beside him, still holding on to Dawes' arm. John took Cameron's free hand and squeezed it as hard as he could. He needed to know that he wasn't alone.

Kyle took up the rear, worried for his son, glad he had someone to be there for him. Most of all, though, he was worried about Sarah. He needed her to survive.

* * *

The bright light was burning through his eyelids. He forced his eyes to open, taking in his surroundings. The only light in the room was the one currently scarring his retinas. He couldn't see anything else, but he knew he was tied to a chair. He pulled at the restraints finding that he had no chance of breaking out of the restraints or the chair. His hands were being held together by handcuffs, which were fastened to a chain that wrapped around the chair.

"It's nice to see you again Derek. Nice for me, of course. Not so much you."

Derek had thought he was alone, so he was alarmed at the sound of someone speaking to him. Especially since apparently this was someone he knew. When he didn't respond, the man spoke again.

"What? No hello? I'm hurt. I must apologize for my men. I specifically instructed them to bring you back here in worse shape than this. I guess in all the confusion they forgot. Or maybe they didn't think I was serious. Oh well, they know now how serious I was. To think that they only tased you. Admittedly, I want to inflict the pain myself, but I thought that they should prepare you a bit, just like your little whore did to me."

Derek was really confused now.

"My whore?"

"Yes, Jesse. At least that's what you called her. What? Do you have more than one?"

Derek remained silent. It slowly dawned on him that this man had had some kind of confrontation with the other Derek. But he wasn't about to tell him that. Most likely, he'd just kill him on the spot. Plus, would he really believe that he wasn't the same Derek? That he had come from a different time line? Probably not.

"Well, as you can imagine, the tables are turned this time. This time, I'll admit readily that I am Charles Fisher. And now it's your turn."

* * *

**NOTE: This story is continued in Episode 6: Covenant.**


End file.
